Recording A Cappella with Danny Ozment

This is the last episode of Season 1 of the Recording A Cappella Podcast. Thanks for all of your support! Please continue to check out our resources at https://recordingacappella.com

How have I gotten this far and not really talked in detail about the most important piece of gear these days??? Today we talk about your computer and what you will need.   Danny's Recommended Resources - https://recordingacappella.com/resources  Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist Interested in a coaching session? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching

Everyone loves buying gear…  Really though, the gear and room are only as good as you. We’ve talked about room in the past so lets talk about how to get the most out of your gear, software, and plug-ins. Learn one piece of gear at a time Read the manual  Use presets and create templates Experiment Practice even when you think you know everything  Links: https://sweetwater.com Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist Interested in a coaching session? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching  

Today I'm going to answer some questions from listeners and let you know about the future of the podcast.

It occurred to me just recently that we often talk about how to improve our rehearsals as a cappella groups yet when it comes to recording, we most often call on singers to record individually.   And without fail, we always discover during the recording process that a few of our fellow singers have been relying heavily on their fellow section members to be able to perform their parts.   Singers in general do not develop individual practice habits at an early age. I'm thankful that a good number of high school choir directors are changing this by teaching theory, sight singing, and giving voice lessons to their students. For the amateur singer joining an a cappella group in college or as an adult, they are flying blind when it comes to individual practice.   Here are some suggestions for improving your individual practice habits especially if you are the casual amateur singer singing in a group for fun.   Rhythm and Time Singers struggle with rhythm. Rhythm and time are crucial for being a great musician. Download a good metronome app to your phone immediately and start practicing your music with an appropriate subdivision playing. 8ths, 16ths, etc so you can feel where your notes occur. Before you even start to learn your notes, start by speaking your parts so that you get the rhythms internalized.   Basic technique If you can't afford voice lessons, invest in a basic vocal pedagogy book. Learn about your anatomy and physiology. Start working on basic exercises and use them at the beginning of each practice session. Start to build your instrument before you try to throw difficult parts at it.   Part tracks If you can't play piano, get part tracks for the songs or get music notation software that can play the parts back for you.   Make a plan Pick 30 minutes at least twice a week that you can practice. Then plan that session. 5 minutes for warm up. 10 minutes to learn rhythms. 15 minutes to learn notes. Etc…   Get an accountability buddy Find someone else in your section who you can meet up with every few weeks to rehearse together outside the group rehearsal.   Your individual voice is important to the makeup of the group. If you are just coasting along relying on others to get your part right, you are not adding anything to your group. You're just noise. Own your ability and improve your instrument. Be a leader.   So thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And please if you like the show, please share an episode with your friends and other a cappella fans. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey. Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

My number one recommendation isn’t going to have anything to do with plug-ins or software. No techniques, not tricks… There’s no secret sauce in this podcast.   The best thing you can do right now to improve your mixes is to fix your monitoring. You have to be able to hear your mix as it actually exists in order to mix well.   So what can you do to make sure that you are monitoring correctly?   Take your room out of the equation. If that means treating your room with acoustic panels, bass traps, diffusers, etc, then go do it. I recommend GIK acoustics for packages that are designed for your room. If you can’t afford to do that, get a reasonably decent pair of headphones or earbuds.   Learn how your chosen monitors or headphones or earbuds sound. Spend a lot of time listening to a lot of different music of different styles on them and learn what frequencies get boosted or lowered by them. Compare the same music on another set of headphones.   Always listen at the same low volume level when you mix. When I first met James Gammon way back in 2008, he recommended that I pick up an SPL meter to make sure I wasn’t listening to my mixes too loud. You need to find a level you can listen at for long periods of time. You can find apps that will do this.   Pick a handful of songs that you think sound great or grab a song that is similar to what you are mixing. Drop that song into your mix session and regularly switch back and forth as you try to make you mix sound similar to that song. Do your drums hit as hard? Does your lead vocal sit on top of everything else. Do you have holes in your mix?   Take your mix and listen to it in the car or on some standard ear buds to hear if your mix works on different speakers.   So thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And please if you like the show, please share an episode with your friends and other a cappella fans. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey. Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

This week on Recording A Cappella I speak with one of my most trusted editors and member of the Recording A Cappella mastermind group, David Fowler.  Let me introduce you to David. I first met David 2 years ago when I tracked a group he was singing in at the time. He discovered a cappella in high school and started messing around creating YouTube videos. He sang in a group in college and grew his YouTube channel into something pretty special. Fast forward a few years and he’s now in a pro group performing internationally and working closely with Peter Hollens on Peter’s videos in Eugene, OR. It’s been a whirlwind for him and I hope you can take some great lessons from his experience.   In this episode, David gives us the “cliff notes” version of how he got involved in a cappella, including how Season 1 of the television show Sing Off, pushed him to start an a cappella group, and posting his first YouTube video. We then talked about his progression as an a cappella artist, his group EVOC, his success as a YouTube Content Creator and his exhilarating experience working with Peter Hollens as his audio and video producer.   --------   Want more support? Join myself and members like David in the Recording A Cappella Mastermind Group. Our current mastermind is a group of six people that had to meet certain criteria they had to apply and then have a brief call with me to make sure it was the right fit. I personally mentor each member of the group and facilitate our calls.   But more than that our group is about providing the members with the support confidence inspiration camaraderie and unimpeded access not just to me but to a wealth of other forward focused individuals and a true mastermind setting.  They're a safe space where you can nurture and grow your best a cappella self within the safe confines of your wise peers and no amount of genius marketing I could ever do would give true voice to their power. Apply today: https://recordingacappella.com/mm David Fowler - https://www.davidfowlermusic.com/   David Fowler on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVs-o_xSBFPou0dOQ5f_8Cg   Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop   Thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard on this episode, please drop by iTunes, subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. If you like the show, please share an episode with your friends and other a cappella fans. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey.

If you are listening to this podcast, you are interested in growth . . . of your knowledge, your talent, your ability, your skills, your business, etc.   All too often these days, everything you read or watch in the online education space is trying to get you to learn something faster, better, CHEAPER, etc.   You’ve heard the expression: “there’s an app for that.” Well, it is true that technology can help you do things cheaper and faster, BUT it’s not always going to lead to you doing it better or understanding it better.   If you are trying to learn something that involves creativity like recording music   or   you want to have a career in recording, rarely is there a quick or cheap path. You have to invest the time. And more importantly, you will have to invest the money.   Invest in quality tools and education that will support you on your journey.   All too often we are tempted to find the free or cheap way to accomplish something . . .   OR find an illegal copy of something in order for us to try out this hobby that we might want to turn into a career.   I’m not going to say I haven’t tried cracked versions of software before, but I always had to buy the full version to make things work consistently and to get the full benefit from them.   I believe that going for the cheap or free option is the wrong path to take.   You need to spend money on quality proven tools and on quality education from professionals.   While this will likely save you some headaches, I believe there is a more important psychological reason for spending good money on quality.   You have to have skin in the game.   If you don’t invest good money, you are communicating to yourself that you aren’t serious.   You’re dipping your toe in the pool and saying that if it’s too cold, you aren’t jumping in. You can’t succeed that way. You have to jump in the deep end and take some risks in order to be successful.   This entire episode may sound like an advertisement for my courses on recording, editing, and mixing, or my mastermind group, or my coaching services… well, in a way they are. As I see it, you have 3 options to grow in your knowledge of recording.   First, you could learn like I did, cutting my teeth in a studio while recording 3 lackluster albums with my college group, spending years going to festivals and workshops, spending countless hours hunting down every free resource I could and asking every question I could of people more experienced than me.   Second, you could just keep doing what you are doing now, going to the local studio maybe where they don’t really know what to do with an a cappella group or finding students on campus who happen to own some gear and have even less experience recording than the engineers at the local recording studio.   OR Third,   You could invest in some focused training. Skip the trial and error learning a system that has been proven to work by the best in a cappella over the last 20 years. work it alongside what you’re doing right now, and see how far you go.   Of those three options, what’s going to be easier for you?   If not now, when?   Make your decision, and if it’s option 3 then take action and go to https://recordingacappella.com/shop   So thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And please if you like the show, please share an episode with your friends and other a cappella fans. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey. Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Let me introduce you to Zach Toom. First off, Zach works for NASA and I think that’s freaking cool!!! I first met Zach 6 months ago when he applied for my mastermind groups. Zach is a lot like many of you listening. He was in groups in college and got tapped to figure out how to record his own group. He’s recorded some tracks. He’s dealt with disappointing results when a local recording studio tried to mix their a cappella tracks. He decided he wanted to figure out how to do it on his own and that’s why he joined our group. And in 6 months, Zach has gone from just starting out to being so good that I’ve actually hired him to help me on a few projects.   “A mastermind group is designed to help you navigate through challenges using the collective intelligence of others. How does a mastermind work? A group of smart people meet regularly to tackle challenges and problems together. They lean on each other, give advice, share connections and do business with each other when appropriate. It's very much peer-to-peer mentoring and if you are lucky enough to get invited to one, you will most likely see a marked change in yourself and your career.”   Our current mastermind is a group of 6 people that had to meet certain criteria, apply and and then have a brief call with me to make sure it was the right fit. I personally mentor each member of the group and facilitate our calls.   But more than that, our group is about providing the members with support, confidence, inspiration, camaraderie, and unimpeded access not just to me, but to a wealth of other forward-focused individuals in a true mastermind setting.   Each month the group is provided stems for a song recorded by me or by members of the group. Members edit and mix the song. In most cases, I also edit and mix the song as a control or benchmark for the group and provide over the shoulder videos explaining what I did.   We then meet twice a month for 60 - 90 minutes. Once to share edits and a second time to share mixes. During our calls, each person gets 15 minutes to receive feedback from me and from the group as a whole. We also spend time on calls to discuss the business of the home studio and any other topics that come up. we also have a private Facebook group to discuss, ask questions, and share in the time between calls.   Masterminds may seem a bit like a "Secret Society" sometimes.  Because, well...they are!   In the best sort of way, of course. They're a safe space where YOU can nurture and grow your best a cappella self within the safe confines of your wise peers.   And no amount of genius marketing I could ever do would give true voice to their power. So that’s why I’m sharing this recording with you. So you can hear for yourself and pick up just of the few nuggets we share in each and every call.   And if you already know you're ready to super-charge your growth, rapidly build a quality network, and cut your editing and mixing learning curve in half, then apply to the 2018 Recording A Cappella Masterminds today at https://recordingacappella.com/mm.   Zach Toom - https://www.facebook.com/zachary.toom   Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

The Coach Has Failed More Times Than The Student Has Tried    I love this quote. It sums up why it is so important to have a coach or mentor. Or why it’s important to bring in a qualified professional to do something that you might not have experience doing.   You may have also heard the cliche don’t reinvent the wheel. Similar idea. When we start to learn something new we often don’t want to listen to someone with more experience. Maybe we think we’re going to do it differently or figure out some new way of doing things. You might, but most likely not.   Someone who is a professional or expert at something has already made hundreds of mistakes while learning to do what they now do so well. And for some reason, those same mistakes occur when anyone else starts to learn how to do the same thing. It saves a lot of time to listen to those people when they warn you about mistakes to avoid. Trust me, they know.   That’s the main reason I started this site. At first it’s a place for you to learn how to avoid all the mistakes I made as I learned my craft. And as it grows, I want it to be a place for you to learn from each other and share your own mistakes.   And remember, sometimes mistakes lead to some new idea or technique. So, listen to me, but don’t be afraid to make your own big mistakes and find out something new.                        Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Finally, after 39 episodes, I’m going to address the aca-elephant in the room. I’m not even going to do an intro to this episode because I just want to dive in and share my thoughts and some useful information for those of you who are planning recording projects for your groups. This is the closest thing to a rant that you will ever hear from me.   So the topic usually comes to me in the form of a question from a potential recording client and it goes like this.   “Hi we are .  We are a mixed group from . We have 20 members in the group and we want to record 10 songs this year for an album. We want to release it in late April.”   And then they drop this… “ We love the Nor’easters or the Socal Vocals or Voices in Your Head or Pentatonix (you get the idea) and we want to record an album that has that sound.”   And then when we talk about budget, I inevitably get the information that they want to do everything for $2000 or that they haven’t even started to fundraise yet (and lets not even talk about how this email usually shows up the week before new years 4 months before the release).   Bill Hare wrote a great article about this topic back in 2015… and before that in 2006… and he’s probably had this conversation with groups in person more times than I can imagine. In his 2015 article he gave a very wonderful car analogy calling this the Aca Wealth Gap. I’ll link to the article in the show notes.   I’m going to go into a bit more detail. Not to discourage you but to share some reality.   First off the groups I listed above have invested tons of time into getting where they are… Over many years, they first set their standards high. They didn’t let people join their groups who didn’t reach their standard. Some went through lean years of 6 or 7 people in the group just so that they could maintain the quality level and expectation.   Then they worked their butts off... If you haven’t read Pitch Perfect (yes, the book, not the movie), I recommend it. In the book, you’ll see how much effort went into getting groups like Oregon’s Divisi and the Tufts Beelzebubs to where they are now. It’s pretty impressive.   These groups rehearse more and rehearse better. They listen and refine. They expect more individual preparation.   And then they work with professional arrangers and then learn from those professional arrangers and become great arrangers in their own right. They study music theory and vocal arranging. They listen and analyze the songs they are covering. They learn from the techniques and choices that the songwriter made.   Then they prepare for recording sessions. I’m not going to say it never happens but in most cases these groups come in so prepared to record that they can even start to experiment and create during a recording session. And in most cases all of the singers are prepared to record individually or in small groups and don’t get thrown off. And as a result, they can give musical, passionate performances on mic and take coaching. And this is why their albums are amazing. The passion and the energy. Creativity is one thing, but the passion and energy are what really connect with the listener.   And if the time investment wasn’t enough, then they invest money in their product.   The arrangers that most of these groups hire for at least part of their albums charge $300, $400, $500 or more per song to create an arrangement that really fits the singers in the group.   The top 10 - 15 recording engineers, editors, and mixing engineers that most of these groups work with start at $75 per hour or more. And to get a really great recording even with groups that have great talent and great arrangements, you’ll easily spend 4 - 6 hours or more recording the song, another 3 - 6 hours editing the song, and 2 - 6 hours mixing the song depending upon the engineer and the amount of tweaks you make to the mix. So you can see how quickly a budget of $2000 for an album would disappear.   And I’m not saying you can’t find some awesome up and coming talented engineer to work with you, but those up and comers get booked up really quickly when people find out how good they are, and they will really quickly move into that higher price range.   And believe me, the people charging $75/hour and up aren’t money hungry corporate CEO types. They love a cappella and want to help groups make great music, but they are just booked solid. And they are running businesses and supporting families and they also have to deal with their fair share of frustration when the occasional group can pay on time or 6 months late or ever.   Wow… sorry. That was a lot of negative. Like I said, I don’t normally rant like that. And I don’t want to discourage you.   If you are a group that doesn’t have financial support from your school or is in a smaller town and can’t get a lot of high paying gigs, don’t worry. There are ways to take advantage of parts of the system that these amazing groups have used.   First off, you can control your time, preparation and goals. You can commit to being awesome.   Secondly, you can learn how to record yourselves. If you want to learn how, I know a guy who has a blog and some video courses.   Third, you can invest the money you have wisely. You can get an arrangement or two from a pro arranger and learn from it. You can take a music arranging or theory class at your school. Then you can send the tracks you’ve recorded on your own to a top 10 - 15 a cappella producer to have them handle editing, mixing and mastering for you. And if they are in the top 10 - 15 (meaning you’ve seen their names on BOCA or their clients have won CARAs), they have their reputation for a reason. Listen to them when they give you advice.   Alright, so what have we been talking about today? I complained about a lot but I hope that I shared some good strategies for how the well known groups have gotten to where they are and how they make amazing recordings.   So thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And please if you like the show, please share an episode with your friends and other a cappella fans. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey. Bill Hare article - http://www.casa.org/content/how-much-ferrari-window   Recording A Cappella Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a group of a cappella friends who are also trying to learn how to record, edit, and mix a cappella? A place where you could ask those questions that you are just too nervous to ask on Facebook?  Well today, I share with you a Recording A cappella Mastermind call where we discuss topics such as how to use delay, the infinite reverb trick, the benefits of VocalZone, fixing bad arrangements on the fly, editing pitch slides in Melodyne, and so much more.   “A mastermind group is designed to help you navigate through challenges using the collective intelligence of others. How does a mastermind work? A group of smart people meet regularly to tackle challenges and problems together. They lean on each other, give advice, share connections and do business with each other when appropriate. It's very much peer-to-peer mentoring and if you are lucky enough to get invited to one, you will most likely see a marked change in yourself and your career.”   Our current mastermind is a group of 6 people that had to meet certain criteria, apply and and then have a brief call with me to make sure it was the right fit. I personally mentor each member of the group and facilitate our calls.   But more than that, our group is about providing the members with support, confidence, inspiration, camaraderie, and unimpeded access not just to me, but to a wealth of other forward-focused individuals in a true mastermind setting. Each month the group is provided stems for a song recorded by me or by members of the group. Members edit and mix the song. In most cases, I also edit and mix the song as a control or benchmark for the group and provide over the shoulder videos explaining what I did.   We then meet twice a month for 60 - 90 minutes. Once to share edits and a second time to share mixes. During our calls, each person gets 15 minutes to receive feedback from me and from the group as a whole. We also spend time on calls to discuss the business of the home studio and any other topics that come up. we also have a private Facebook group to discuss, ask questions, and share in the time between calls.   Masterminds may seem a bit like a "Secret Society" sometimes.  Because, well...they are!   In the best sort of way, of course. They're a safe space where YOU can nurture and grow your best a cappella self within the safe confines of your wise peers.   And no amount of genius marketing I could ever do would give true voice to their power. So that’s why I’m sharing this recording with you. So you can hear for yourself and pick up just of the few nuggets we share in each and every call.   And if you already know you're ready to super-charge your growth, rapidly build a quality network, and cut your editing and mixing learning curve in half, then apply to the 2018 Recording A Cappella Masterminds today at https://recordingacappella.com/mm.   Mastermind - https://recordingacappella.com/mm   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Today on the Recording A cappella podcast I speak with Wolfram Lattke of amarcord... He shares the keys to how amarcord has stuck together for 25 years, why they decided early on to have a diverse repertoire, and their secrets to recording and releasing critically acclaimed albums almost every year.   We then take a very deep dive into the success of the International Festival of Vocal Music which amarcord has presented for over 20 years!!! How it started, how it became so popular, and how they’ve kept it going year after year. And as a special bonus for you guys, we talk extensively about the festival competition during which we give you 5 Ways to Improve Your Competition Set. And to make it easy on you, I’ve created a PDF version that you can get if you go to https://recordingacappella.com/podcast/038/   amarcord - http://www.amarcord.de/en/index.php#.Wo3S-oJG2V4   IFVM - http://www.a-cappella-festival.de/index.php/en/   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Today on the Recording A cappella podcast I tell you why most recording projects are set up to be mediocre before you ever step in front of a microphone and how you can avoid this common pitfall.   What are we talking about here? In technical recording jargon, we call this Pre-production. This is basically all the stuff we do before we ever hit record.     I want you to think about a recording project like a chef preparing a great meal. And preparing that meal starts with reading the recipe and gathering the ingredients. And what I’d like to do is give you the recipe to a great recording and also a way to capture the ingredients. So what I’ve done is created a checklist for you, a PDF that you can go and download as a reminder of the things we’ll cover today… but it’s more than just a pre-production checklist, it is the ultimate guide to creating a successful recording. Do everything on this checklist and you will avoid the pitfall of creating a mediocre recording because you will have the tools necessary to do so much more.   Now here’s how you get it, after you listen to this episode, head over to https://recordingacappella.com/checklist and you can download the PDF. And then you’ll have a reminder, a cheatsheet to reference before and during your next recording project.   So what are some of these ingredients that will make your next recording awesome?                                                                             Even though the landscape is different today and you may not be doing a full album, planning and pre-production are still the most crucial step in any type of recording project.   Do them and you will get a better result.   For many groups, recording is a given. “We’re in an a cappella group, we have to record.” That’s where I was when I started a group in college. I heard the groups on BOCA. Going to school in Virginia, I heard some great albums from groups like the Virginia Gentleman and the Hullabahoos and I just assumed that being a college group meant that you had to record.   Every year!   That used to be the case. Many groups put out an album each year or every other year of the stuff they’d performed. That’s what we did. And you know what, our albums were always a bit of a let down. Frankly, they sucked!   Things just didn’t fit together or keep the listener interested.   Why were they a let down? We didn’t do any planning for them. At all.   We just walked into the studio ready to record what we’d done on stage. There are so many issues with that.   If you want to record your group, first ask yourselves a very important question.   WHY ARE WE MAKING A RECORDING?   It’s so important to state an overall goal and vision for the recording. You’re about to spend a lot of time, money, and effort on a project that will exist forever.   Do you just want a record of what your group sang this year (which we would call a yearbook album)? Awesome!   Maybe you want something to use as a marketing tool for your group?   Do you have a great artistic idea for a themed concept album? Go for it.   Maybe you have an enthusiastic audience who wants to listen to your stuff on Spotify?   Fame and fortune???? Cool!   All of these are great goals/visions. You have to state them and you have to get everyone involved in the project to buy into these goals. If you do, you’ll have a much better chance of reaching your goal.   Once you’ve agreed upon and stated your goal and vision, you need to start selecting songs for your project whether it’s an EP or an album.   Remember how I said this recording will last forever? Even if you are just creating a yearbook album, you probably have more songs in your current repertoire than will fit on an album.   Maybe you want to get all your graduating or retiring members solos recorded. This can work though I’m much more a fan of thinking about your current and future audience when selecting songs.   What do people outside the group who support you and are paying money for the recordings want to hear?   Which songs might hold up 10 years from now?   Even if you have to record all of your songs, you can always pick some songs to go on the EP or album and release others as singles. Think about which songs fit well together or are most popular with your audience.   Dare I say it, you may even need to ask yourselves which solos are the best? I’m hoping you don’t have this issue because you’ve followed the advice of not arranging or performing any songs for which you don’t have someone capable of singing the solo but if you do, or if you have too many great solos, you might have to choose.   If you have a theme for an album or EP, that may inform your selection process as well.   So far we’ve mostly talked about things that require nothing more than talking and listening. The rest of pre-production is mostly technical and preparatory.   If you listen to a lot of a cappella recordings (or any recordings for that matter), you’ll notice that the majority of recordings are slightly different from the live version. This became standard with the dawn of multi-track recording where bands could record additional tracks over what they play live (which is known as overdubbing). A 4-piece band like the Beatles could add additional percussion, brass, strings, and synthesizers to their songs. This is not as much the case any more because many bands actually play live with their additional tracks being played live by a DAW like Pro Tools while they play their core parts.   The recorded version of the song became the band’s ideal version of the song because even though they may have written the song and played it a few times live, they were crafting the completed version of the song in the studio first and then playing the song live.   A cappella groups can benefit from this as well even though you are usually arranging a song to perform it live and then recording it later on. This is your chance to do some things that you can’t do live or tweak some things that will sound different in a studio mix than they would live without microphones.   Once you have your recording arrangement done you’ll need to prepare guide tracks for your singers to listen to while they record. These will provide your singers a pitch and tempo reference so that everything will stay in the right key and consistent across the recording. Most often I use the MIDI file from your arrangement to create these guide tracks.   Maybe you don’t have a written arrangement for the song. You created your arrangement while singing along to the original version of the song. You could always record to the original recording though I tend to recommend writing things out so that you know what is being recorded.   Along those lines, you should start rehearsing with recording in mind. People will be recording individually or in small numbers while listening to a piano track and metronome in their headphones.   That’s a very different experience than singing live in a group. Start isolating voice parts in rehearsal. Check parts that may have evolved over the course of singing a song throughout the year. Ever played the game “telephone?” You know what I mean…   Lastly, it’s a great idea to choose a producer to oversee the direction and logistics of the album. They will be responsible for creating a recording schedule and keeping things on track. They can keep the goal in mind and the group focused. They’ll also communicate with any outside professionals you use for editing, mixing, mastering, graphic design, licensing, distribution, and manufacturing.                       Alright, so what have we been talking about today? I told you that lack of planning and not having a common goal is why most recording projects are set up to be mediocre before you ever step in front of a microphone and that you can avoid this common pitfall by not only setting goals, having a common vision, and planning but also prepping great guide tracks, tweaking your arrangements, rehearsing with recording in mind, and choosing someone from the group to help coordinate all the details of the recording project.   And one of the ways that I can help you make a successful recording is to remind you again that if you go to recordingacappella.com/checklist, you can download my ultimate pre-production checklist  and you will avoid the pitfall of creating a mediocre recording because you will have the tools necessary to do so much more.   And you know the funny thing about podcasts... YOU, my listener can subscribe to the podcast…. Listen to every episode on the apple podcasts app or through other apps... But never actually visit my website and that's a shame because on recordingacappella.com that's where I have other content, products and services including blog articles, video courses on recording, editing, and mixing, individual and group coaching, and so much more. I am a professional engineer and have worked for years coaching, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. And if you visit recordingacappella.com, you’ll find all of my content and services available to you.   So thanks for joining me today. The recording acappella podcast is produced every other Monday and more resources can be found at recordingacappella.com where you can also subscribe to my email list to receive exclusive email content and the ultimate pre-production checklist.   If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And if you have a message to share and want to start your own podcast, I can help you make that a reality. And if you are looking for a place to host your podcast, I recommend Libsyn. They host all of my shows and most of my clients shows and provide amazing service. When you choose Libsyn, use the promo code DANNY and you’ll get the first month free. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey.   I’m Danny Ozment and this has been the Recording Acappella Podcast.   Ultimate Pre-Production Checklist - https://recordingacappella.com/checklist   Interested in a coaching session or joining one of our groups? -  https://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Video Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Today on the Recording A cappella podcast I speak with Patrick Oliver of ONAIR... We discuss the German/Central European a cappella scene, the process he and his groups have used to arrange, rehearse, and record, the meteoric rise of ONAIR as a very successful pro touring group, and a fast track for US groups who’d like to start touring Europe.   Patrick is a founding member of muSix, ONAIR, and Hartmuth und die Hitmaschine and besides being an immense musician and talented vocalist, he is on my Mt. Rushmore of vocal drummers. I find it almost impossible to distinguish his sounds from real drums.   Patrick Oliver - http://patrickoliver.de/Patrick_Oliver/Home.html   OnAir - https://www.onaironline.de/en   Hartmuth und die Hitmaschine - http://www.hudh.de/   Vokal Total - http://www.vokaltotal.at/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching Aca Recording, Editing, and Mixing Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

A Long Island native living in Raleigh, NC, Eric Scholz has played and recorded music for as long as he can remember. His a cappella career started at NC State with the award-winning mixed group Acappology, which was featured on BOCA 2011, 2012, and 2013, as well as Voices Only 2012 and 2013 under his (co-)leadership. As the culmination of his experiences as a leader, performer, and producer/engineer... a cappella production quickly blossomed into a career for me. He’s been working in the a cappella world nonstop since graduation, with a wide array of clients as well as on his own projects.   Eric is immensely talented and creative and is all about collaborating and sharing his passion for music in general. Whether you’re looking for guidance in your music-making or you’d like assistance fulfilling your own creative vision, you should definitely check him out. Eric Scholz - http://ericscholzproductions.com/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Aca Recording, Editing, and Mixing Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop

Elle (Ellie) Brigida has been singing and arranging for all-female a cappella groups since 2008. She has a passion for unleashing the unlimited potential in new and growing groups. As the Music Director of two all-female a cappella groups, Elle has brought Vocal Synergy and Cape Harmony to the next level. During Elle's time with Vocal Synergy, the all-female a cappella group at Wagner College, the group completed their first professional EP, featuring two of Elle's arrangements, played on WERS All A Cappella Radio and will be featured on the compilation album SheSings 2015. In 2014, Vocal Synergy competed in the ICCAs for the first time ever, featuring two of Elle's arrangements, and won First place overall in their Quarterfinals. Elle has arranged over twenty songs for Vocal Synergy in her four years in the group and continues to arrange for the group after graduation. During her time with Cape Harmony, Cape Cod's professional all-female a cappella group, the group's audiences have doubled in size and the girls just completed recording of their first ever studio album. Elle recorded the album with her own personal equipment and 7 out of the 10 songs were arranged by Elle. Their first single "I Want Crazy" has been played on Acaville Radio and WERS All A Cappella Radio. Cape Harmony also had their first ever Children's Workshop in the summer of 2014, and Elle helped to lead the music portion of this successful workshop. Elle currently serves as the Social Media Manager for the Women's A Cappella Association (WACA).   Ellie Brigida - https://www.clearharmonies.com/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Aca Recording, Editing, and Mixing Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop 10 Ways to Improve Your A Cappella Recording - https://recordingacappella.com

Ben Spalding has two passions in his life: his family and music. Ben grew up in the Winton Woods school district, where he met his future wife, Kylene, who shares his love of music. After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Ben taught music at Winton Woods schools. Ben now lives with his wife and two daughters in Centerville, Ohio.   Ben is an avid supporter of a cappella music and recently wrote a book with Deke Sharon and Brody McDonald, called A Cappella (available at Amazon.com and other resellers).  He is a founding member of the A Cappella Education Association and is associated with several other a cappella organizations.  He is an instructor at Camp A Cappella and a clinician for vocal groups across the country.   Ben, along with Deke Sharon, has recently formed a professional a cappella group called Vocalight. Vocalight is comprised of award-winning vocalists and performers from the Dayton, Ohio area.   Ben is the head Choral Director at Centerville High School in Centerville, Ohio.  At CHS, Ben directs all of the vocal groups and is also the music director for the fall and spring musicals. Under his direction, the Symphonic Choir has received Superior ratings at OMEA since 2011.  Forte, the premier a cappella group at CHS, are the 2016 ICHSA global champions.   Ben Spalding - http://www.benspaldingmusic.com/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   Aca Recording, Editing, and Mixing Courses -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop 10 Ways to Improve Your A Cappella Recording - https://recordingacappella.com

Do you have a personal project sitting around at home. You know the one I'm talking about. That song that you just can't get right... that you work on every few days in your free-time after work.   Maybe you're a group who has recorded a song 3 times and still don't like the energy.   What about that mix that you've been working on for 3 months but just aren't satisfied with...?   STOP and just GET IT OUT THERE!!!   Why?   You're stealing your creative energy from future projects and getting frustrated. Frustration is one of the worst things you can go through as an artist. I know it's your baby, but you have to let your baby leave the nest at some point.   You need feedback to grow and you won't get feedback until someone hears it. Yes, even negative feedback. Both criticism and praise will help you learn more about what your audience wants to hear from you.   You're depriving your audience. You are creating things in order to entertain them. No matter who they are, that's why your audience is there. TO BE ENTERTAINED BY YOU... Why are you keeping them from being entertained.   I've devoured plenty of books by veteran artists and engineers, heard too many interviews to count, and listened to many panels at conventions. If Grammy winning engineers feel like they never get it 100% right, how are you going to get there? Trust me, you'll never get that last 5 - 10% towards perfect. Perfect is impossible.   As long as you've done your best and what you created has integrity, you can be happy to let the world see what you've done.   Done is better than perfect. Get it out there. Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop   10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - https://recordingacappella.com

In design, there’s a concept known as “less is more.” Basically, minimalism.   It’s defined by Google as: “That which is less complicated is often better understood and more appreciated than what is more complicated; simplicity is preferable to complexity; brevity in communication is more effective than verbosity.” The basic premise is that that simplicity and clarity lead to good design. Focus on the following ideas: Don’t use a lot where a little will do. Lower quantity means more quality. Make elements purer, more direct, and more potent. And this can be applied to many things in music too . . .   DRUMS Most often, I use it when talking to vocal percussionists (who often refer to themselves as beatboxers) which I will henceforth refer to as drummers. I find that drummers who started learning their instrument using their mouth and just creating sounds rather than sitting behind a kit playing along with Billy Joel albums or slogging through methods books by Carmine Appice have missed THE essential building block of being a great drummer. LESS IS MORE.   Focus on the form of the song and come up with simple patterns that support the form of the song (Don’t use a lot where a little will do) Focus on the groove and make sure it supports and enhances what the bassline is doing. You are part of the rhythm section. (Make elements purer, more direct, and more potent) Less fills and only at transition points (Lower quantity means more quality) If you want to understand how this principle applies to drumming, go listen to Steve Gadd (Paul Simon and pretty much everyone else), Liberty Devitto (Billy Joel), Larry Mullen (U2 and in particular Sunday Bloody Sunday) MIXING You often hear the term less is more used in mixing as well. If you have too many parts/things in a mix, they end up competing for the listeners attention. Mixes have limited room for stuff and if you overload it with too many parts or plug-ins or tracks, the resulting clutter will just make your mix confusing and cluttered. Adding more stuff to make something sound big can actually have the opposite effect. Those competing frequencies can just end up making your mix sound small. The best mix engineers in the world have actually mastered the art of using the MUTE button.   Less truly is more.   In our modern world, it’s hard to practice the less is more principle. We’re indoctrinated by our consumer culture that you should always have more, want more . . . MOAR EEZ BETTAH!!!!   But instead of doing more and assuming it’s better, if you focus on doing less and doing it really, really well, you will be more deliberate, less scattered, more mindful, less flustered, and more present. Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  https://recordingacappella.com/shop   10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - https://recordingacappella.com

I occasionally listen to advice columnist Dan Savage's podcast and have noticed that he regularly comes back to a piece of advice in regards to relationships that we've all been hearing since we were children. Use your words. It's surprising how well Dan's advice applies to relationships. A little honesty when it's difficult can go a long way to strengthening a relationship. This bit of advice is just as effective when talking about recording a cappella because let's face it, there are many relationships involved when you consider a cappella groups. You have friendships, you have romantic relationships, people end up getting married, people leave the group because of breakups, etc. An a cappella group (any performing group really) is a family and family dynamics can vary greatly. In these close-knit groups, we aren't only building close relationships... we are singing too. We are using our voice. The most personal of all instruments. It's part of our body... and the same self-image issues we have with our body are connected to our voice as well. So just like in a relationship, we often have a hard time being honest in an a cappella group. The person singing flat might be our friend or lover. They might be dealing with any number of problems outside the group that you're concerned for them about. Heck, you might just be a really positive person that doesn't like to make anyone feel bad. However, when there's a performance issue or other problem in the group, not being honest hinders the group and the singers individually. Here are some tips to help you use your words, become a better group, and get better recordings. The best way to help you avoid any discomfort in the first place is to do these two things. 1. Strive for a common goal. Some of the most successful and consistently awesome a cappella groups start with a common goal. Each year (or more regularly) they discuss their goals as a group. What they want to do, who they want to be, what they want to be known for, etc. Really it's a mission statement of sorts. This informs all their decisions. It also helps them during their auditions. The group keeps their goals in mind when selecting singers. If a singer doesn't agree with or support the group's’ goals or they don't meet the level of quality the group has set for themselves, the singer doesn't get in the group (or doesn't audition in the first place). 2. Create an expectation of honesty within the group. Along the same lines as goals, you can discuss the importance of honesty as a group and set an expectation for it. Establish that honesty in rehearsals is not bad. It's never meant to be a personal attack or negative. It's constructive and always in support of the group goals. And then back it up. Be blunt... often. Be honest in a matter-of-fact way so that everyone gets used to the freedom honesty can provide. If everyone is always being honest, everyone will get used to hearing the truth and won't freak out when someone tells them they are singing a syllable wrong. Face it... it is hard to hear exactly how you sound or if your section is in tune with the entire group on a certain part. The director or the people standing across the circle from you are in a better position to help. Trust them. The Benefits of Honesty 1. Honesty will make your group and your singers better. When you are constructively made aware of issues with your and/or others' performance(s), you will become a better singer (your instrument) and a better musician (your art). You'll also understand more about how you fit into the group's sound, the arrangement, the energy of the song, etc. Additionally, you'll trust each other and grow to become an organism instead of just a bunch of individuals. This is a big component of why some groups are amazing. 2. Honesty can save you time and money. What if someone who normally sings tenor on most songs isn't sounding right on the tenor part of a new song? If you have a culture of honesty, asking that person to switch down to baritone hopefully won't crush them emotionally. (never know with tenors though...) Specifically as it relates to recording (after all, this is a recording blog), honesty can limit the amount of wasted time in rehearsal or in front of a microphone. If you are recording yourselves and someone just isn't getting a part or showed up sick or unprepared, a group with a culture of honesty can easily tell that person to come back at another time and prevent the lost time that happens as you struggle through a take or two with that person. If you've hired an engineer to record you, this can save money by not wasting time. Use your words... :-) Alright, so what have we been talking about today? I told you that the best ways to use honesty to your group’s advantage and avoid discomfort are to strive for common goals and create an expectation of honesty in the group. And I told you that honesty will make your group and your singers better and save you time and money in the long run. So thanks for joining me today. The recording a cappella podcast is produced every other Monday and more resources can be found at recordingacappella.com where you can also subscribe to our email list to receive our free eBook 10 Ways to Improve your A cappella Recordings and weekly newsletter. If you liked what you heard today, please drop by iTunes and subscribe and while you’re there, leave me a review. And if you have a message to share and want to start your own podcast, I can help you make that a reality. And if you are looking for a place to host your podcast, I recommend Libsyn. They host all of my shows and most of my clients shows and provide amazing service. When you choose Libsyn, use the promo code DANNY and you’ll get the first month free. I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy week to listen to me talk about recording a cappella and I hope that I’m helping you on your journey. Interested in a coaching session? - https://recordingacappella.com/coaching 25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale - https://recordingacappella.com/shop 10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - https://recordingacappella.com

Your arrangement is crucial to making sure that the final product uses the human voice most efficiently to create awesomeness. Great arrangements are singable, move the song forward, and need very little modification when recorded. I recommended that you elevate your product and accelerate your learning curve by hiring a professional arranger to work on a few of your songs.   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses   10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

In today’s live coaching I’m working with Ron Rucker. Ron has been a musician for 50 years and is a gospel choir expert. He’s been teaching in Japan for over 30 years and has produced many albums during his career. During this live coaching session we dig into doubling, compression, and most importantly we talk a lot about time management and how to keep moving on projects that you are playing with on the side.   Ron Rucker - https://www.facebook.com/ronruck and http://www.ronruck.com/index.html   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com

Ben Bram is so well known that whenever you hear his name, it’s always pronounced like it’s one word... BenBram. You don’t get to that point without being great at what you do. And BenBram is an amazing arranger and producer… but what I hope you get out of this 2 part interview is that he hasn’t always met with success. If he’d given up on music the first 2 or 3 times he didn’t succeed, we might not have Pentatonix. Ben is a testament to hard work, showing up, and being available to do whatever is needed. If you follow the Ben Bram formula, you will succeed in your chosen path. In part one, we hear about how Ben got to where he is today. In part two, Ben tells us all about how he helps Pentatonix arrange and record their projects, sharing many detailed techniques they use.   Ben is a Grammy award-winning arranger, music director, producer, engineer, and educator from Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from the USC Thornton School of Music with a degree in music industry and vocal jazz. While at USC, he sang with and directed four-time ICCA champions the SoCal VoCals. It was in this group that he fatefully met a young Scott Hoying, star vocalist from Arlington, TX.   The two combined forces to assemble a supergroup to audition for NBC’s The Sing-Off. The group, named by Scott and Ben after the five-note musical scale, ended up winning that season of the show, and went on to become world-renowned vocal sensation Pentatonix. With Ben as their arranging collaborator, producer, and engineer, Pentatonix has released 4 EPs and 3 full length albums, among which have earned gold, platinum, and double platinum RIAA certifications, two Grammy awards for best a cappella arrangement, and a Billboard #1 album.   In addition to his work with Pentatonix, Ben also has extensive experience in film, TV, and commercial projects. He worked extensively behind the scenes of Pitch Perfect 1 and 2, The Sing-Off, and Glee, providing expertise as an arranger, coach, vocal producer, on set music director, and studio vocalist. In the commercial world, he has worked with clients such as Covergirl, MTV, and Lifetime to contract vocal talent, compose, arrange, produce, and record custom a cappella content for promotional use. Additionally, he has served as choral conductor and contractor for various film and TV projects.   In addition to film, TV, and recording work, Ben enjoys staying involved in the greater a cappella community. Along with Avi Kaplan and Rob Dietz, he co-founded A Cappella Academy, a teen summer intensive designed to train and mentor up-and-coming vocal talents. He is a frequent guest clinician, panelist and judge at various a cappella festivals and competitions, and continues to arrange for scholastic and professional groups alike. In LA, he co-directs, arranges, and sings in his jazz/pop group Level, and has recently created a brand new pop/jazz caroling company, Snowfall.         Ben Bram - http://www.thebenbram.com/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses/   Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card by filling out my survey -  http://recordingacappella.com/survey 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Ben Bram is so well known that whenever you hear his name, it’s always pronounced like it’s one word... BenBram. You don’t get to that point without being great at what you do. And BenBram is an amazing arranger and producer… but what I hope you get out of this 2 part interview is that he hasn’t always met with success. If he’d given up on music the first 2 or 3 times he didn’t succeed, we might not have Pentatonix. Ben is a testament to hard work, showing up, and being available to do whatever is needed. If you follow the Ben Bram formula, you will succeed in your chosen path. In part one, we hear about how Ben got to where he is today. In part two, Ben tells us all about how he helps Pentatonix arrange and record their projects, sharing many detailed techniques they use.   Ben is a Grammy award-winning arranger, music director, producer, engineer, and educator from Los Angeles, CA. He graduated from the USC Thornton School of Music with a degree in music industry and vocal jazz. While at USC, he sang with and directed four-time ICCA champions the SoCal VoCals. It was in this group that he fatefully met a young Scott Hoying, star vocalist from Arlington, TX.   The two combined forces to assemble a supergroup to audition for NBC’s The Sing-Off. The group, named by Scott and Ben after the five-note musical scale, ended up winning that season of the show, and went on to become world-renowned vocal sensation Pentatonix. With Ben as their arranging collaborator, producer, and engineer, Pentatonix has released 4 EPs and 3 full length albums, among which have earned gold, platinum, and double platinum RIAA certifications, two Grammy awards for best a cappella arrangement, and a Billboard #1 album.   In addition to his work with Pentatonix, Ben also has extensive experience in film, TV, and commercial projects. He worked extensively behind the scenes of Pitch Perfect 1 and 2, The Sing-Off, and Glee, providing expertise as an arranger, coach, vocal producer, on set music director, and studio vocalist. In the commercial world, he has worked with clients such as Covergirl, MTV, and Lifetime to contract vocal talent, compose, arrange, produce, and record custom a cappella content for promotional use. Additionally, he has served as choral conductor and contractor for various film and TV projects.   In addition to film, TV, and recording work, Ben enjoys staying involved in the greater a cappella community. Along with Avi Kaplan and Rob Dietz, he co-founded A Cappella Academy, a teen summer intensive designed to train and mentor up-and-coming vocal talents. He is a frequent guest clinician, panelist and judge at various a cappella festivals and competitions, and continues to arrange for scholastic and professional groups alike. In LA, he co-directs, arranges, and sings in his jazz/pop group Level, and has recently created a brand new pop/jazz caroling company, Snowfall.         Ben Bram - http://www.thebenbram.com/   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses/   Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card by filling out my survey -  http://recordingacappella.com/survey 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Today we’re going to continue our mission towards getting GREAT SOUND by beginning to discuss, investigate, and price the equipment (specifically the Digital Audio Workstation or DAW) you’ll need for your recordings. I’ve spent the last few episodes talking about gear and I’ve made it easy for you to reference them by putting the word GEAR at the beginning of the title in ALL CAPS.   There are so many opinions about gear these days and I’m here to help you get some clarity on what you need. You live in amazing times because you can purchase high quality equipment for hundreds of dollars that used to cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.   Recording A Cappella Mastermind Application: https://goo.gl/forms/cQwcaB21VVrxZDXG3   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses   10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Today we’re going to continue our mission towards getting GREAT SOUND by beginning to discuss, investigate, and price the equipment (specifically microphones and headphones) you’ll need for your recordings. I’ll continue this gear discussion over the next few solo episodes and I’ll make it easy for you to reference them by putting the word GEAR at the beginning of the title in ALL CAPS.   There are so many opinions about gear these days and I’m here to help you get some clarity on what you need. You live in amazing times because you can purchase high quality equipment for hundreds of dollars that used to cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses 10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Today we’re going to continue our mission towards getting GREAT SOUND by beginning to discuss, investigate, and price the equipment you’ll need for your recordings. I’ll continue this gear discussion over the next few solo episodes and I’ll make it easy for you to reference them by putting the word GEAR at the beginning of the title in ALL CAPS.   There are so many opinions about gear these days and I’m here to help you get some clarity on what you need. You live in amazing times because you can purchase high quality equipment for hundreds of dollars that used to cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses/ 10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

In today’s live coaching I’m working with Michael Brown. Michael is a member of Connect, an award-winning professional a cappella group located in the Greater Hartford area of Connecticut. They are a mixed group of singers who wanted to continue sharing their love of music after attending school together at Central Connecticut State University. Michael is the group’s recording engineer and in this live coaching session we dig into how to maintain dynamics in the recorded version of your live arrangement, how much editing is too much editing, and many many more tips and tricks while tracking and editing.   Michael Brown, Connect A Cappella - http://connectacappella.com 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com

My guest today is Amanda Newman. Amanda has served as Executive Director of Varsity Vocals for more than a decade, dedicating her career to promoting, encouraging, and providing unique performance opportunities for young musicians. Amanda has extensive experience producing educational and entertaining concerts, festivals, and competitions, as well as handling recorded music distribution and production.   In her capacity as Executive Director, Amanda has brokered high-profile licensing and development agreements, facilitating the use of the ICCA brand and related properties in the major motion picture Pitch Perfect as well as the development of Sing It On, a docu-series produced by CORE Media Group (American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance) that follows college a cappella groups on their journey through the ICCA tournament. Amanda serves as Co-Executive Producer on the series, which debuted in 2015 on the Pop Network.   Under Amanda’s leadership, the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) tournament has more than tripled in size and currently features 3,500 singers from more than 300 competing groups each year. Amanda was also responsible for the creation and development of the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) in 2006, a program that has significantly expanded since its inception and has helped foster a passion for a cappella in thousands of high school students.   And this year, Varsity Vocals created The Open, a competition that encourages singers to bring together groups of any age, experience or origin to form a cappella “dream teams.” By giving them a stage — and a cash prize of $25,000 to jump start their professional career, our programs encourage young people to sing together throughout their lives. The finals of the Open are being held September 23 at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Head to https://varsityvocals.com/events/ for tickets.   Since 2008, Amanda has been responsible the selection of tracks for the albums BOCA: Best of College A Cappella and BOHSA: Best of High School A Cappella, along with the compilation founder Deke Sharon. Amanda manages and oversees the coordination, production, licensing and distribution of both albums.   Amanda originally joined Varsity Vocals in 2003, as ICCA Midwest Producer. In college, Amanda was an ICCA competitor herself, serving as business manager and choreographer for the University of Illinois vocal jazz a cappella group, No Strings Attached. Under her leadership, the group earned second place and accolades for Outstanding Choreography at ICCA Midwest Semifinals, as well as their first track on BOCA.   Alright, without further ado, let’s welcome Amanda to the show.   Varsity Vocals - https://varsityvocals.com   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses/   Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card by filling out my survey -  http://recordingacappella.com/survey   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

After 10 years of doing this recording thing full time, I can tell you that the answer to the question "What should our recording schedule look like?" is ALL OF THE ABOVE. Different things work for different groups. We're all in different situations. You've got classes, work, location issues, relationships, children, etc. Some groups are really focused on the group. Others are more casual. I can confidently say that different schedules work well for different groups. In this episode, I share 7 keys or recommendations that I've noticed seemed to work well for most of the people I've worked with over the years.   Interested in a coaching session? -  http://recordingacappella.com/coaching   25% OFF Video Courses Pre-Order Sale -  http://recordingacappella.com/courses/   Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card by filling out my survey -  http://recordingacappella.com/survey   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Amanda is one of those people where you just can’t figure out how she has the time to do all the stuff she does. She is Sr. Manager of Rights Acquisition & Subscription at FloVoice, she’s a founder and managing partner for Clear Harmonies Productions, she’s president of the Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL), and she sings in 2 very active pro groups, Euphonism and Snow Day. Oh, and she’s a mom. See what I mean.   I’ve known Amanda for a long time and seen how impressive she can be and I wanted to sit down and catch up on all of the exciting things she’s got going on right now in her aca business life.   In this episode, we speed through how she got her start in a cappella and how her two extremely active groups got started.  We cover the multitude of things she does with Clear Harmonies including live sound.  We also discuss the ins and outs of FloVoice and how awesome this is for the a cappella community!     Amanda is the real deal and I hope you find this episode informative and helpful!   FloVoice → http://www.flovoice.com/ Clear Harmonies → https://www.clearharmonies.com/ CAL → http://acappellaleague.org/ Euphonism → https://www.euphonism.com/ Snow Day → https://www.iwantasnowday.com/ 10 Ways to Improve your A Cappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com

Kayla and Evan are members of the Boston-based group Birdland Avenue. Their group enjoys putting a jazzy spin on old and new classics.  They are also hosts of the a cappella podcast Head/Voice. They both have lots of experience performing in larger college groups but the small group dynamic of Birdland Avenue is new to them.   So, how do they approach recording a small group and creating “their” sound on their first EP/album?  That’s what we’re discussing on today’s LIVE COACHING call.  I’m able to help Kayla and Evan get clarity around two key concepts that will increase their awesomeness in the studio and we then get to work brainstorming on ways to accentuate and GROW each of those!   In this episode, we rattle through a ton of great ways to create different sounds and bring out the gems in their arrangements.  We cover time-tested methods for getting the sounds they want during tracking instead of having to wait for the mixing engineer to create the sounds for them.  We also discuss why and when it’s good and bad to invest in more gear and how to do it on a budget!  We even go into strategies for writing original songs, how to get a more “live” sound from their recordings and  deal with the weirdness of trying to perform in the studio!     Kayla and Evan are awesome and I know you’re going to LOVE this episode, so enjoy!   Find out more about Birdland Avenue here → https://www.facebook.com/birdlandavenue Find out more about Head/Voice  here → https://soundcloud.com/headvoicepodcast   These LIVE COACHING SESSIONS are here so you can get deep insight into a cappella recording issues, ideas and challenges that we all face as we create strategies, solutions and action plans that you can benefit from!  It's also a great way to see just how transformative it can be to allow another qualified person into your “group” or “studio”  so you can save time, money and energy that you would normally take figuring it out on your own!  We're in this together! If you are interested a strategy session for YOU and/or YOUR group, check out the different options you have (http://recordingacappella.com/coaching) or simply email me at danny@emeraldcitypro.com to let me know how I can best serve you!

Hey everybody! Welcome to this episode of the Recording A Cappella podcast, my name is Danny and I’m your host for the podcast dedicated to helping you create better recordings and better performances. I’m so excited to be with you today! Welcome to Episode 17. Today we’ll be talking to Alex Green, producer, engineer, and half of the incredible Plaid Productions.   Alex Green possesses golden ears. He’s very intelligent, immensely knowledgeable on technical subjects when it comes to recording, and is a phenomenally emotional and honest musician. In our interview Alex shares his philosophy on creating something that people will enjoy listening to. He tells us how Plaid builds such amazing relationships with clients and how that impacts their search for new clients. We also chat about some of the projects Alex and his partner Koutz (Alex Koutzoukis) do for fun and their involvement in the Boston Sings festival.   Plaid A Cappella - http://plaidacappella.com/ 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Hey everybody! Welcome to this episode of the Recording A Cappella podcast, my name is Danny and I’m your host for the podcast dedicated to helping you create better recordings and better performances. I’m so excited to be with you today! Welcome to Episode 16.   My goal with recordingacappella.com and this podcast is to help you get GREAT SOUND from your recordings and in episode 010 of the podcast I talked about the steps in the recording process.   I talked about what happens during pre-production tracking, editing, mixing, and mastering. We also talked about what can’t be done in post-production that needs to needs to be done right during tracking. If you haven’t listened to my earlier solo episodes, I encourage you to go back to Episode 4 and start there. I do a solo episode every few weeks and there’s definitely a progression to what I am talking about here.   Today we’re going to continue that mission towards getting GREAT SOUND by discussing the THREE MAJOR BENEFITS of recording yourself. I end with a VERY IMPORTANT WARNING to those do it yourselfers out there. 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

James Cannon… such an awesome dude. It was so hard to edit this conversation down from 90 minutes to what it is now. He’s hilarious, profound, entertaining, wise, and just a really interesting guy to listen to. He’s an immensely talented musician, producer, composer, engineer, and more and you’ll get to hear all about it in this episode. His philosophies on getting the right performance during tracking are so important for anyone in a cappella to hear. And if you are a drummer in a group, our discussion about vocal percussion is full of amazing insights on the drummer’s role in the a cappella group. I wish I could say more but James definitely says it better.   James Cannon - morethanfaders@gmail.com 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com

Hello! And welcome to this episode of the Recording A Cappella podcast, my name is Danny and I’m your host for the podcast dedicated to helping you create better recordings and better performances. I’m so excited to be with you today! Welcome to Episode 14. Today we’ll be talking to Bryan Guffey, Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator for the Women’s A Cappella Association.   Bryan Guffey is one of the most interesting people in the a cappella landscape. He’s currently Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator for the Women’s A Cappella Association but he’s also involved with pretty much every organization out there. In a way, he knows all and sees all.   Bryan tells us why it’s so important for professional singers to get involved in a cappella and why learning business skills is so important for the aspiring musician. Bryan is a great bass and actually replaced Tim Foust in a Crystal Cruise line a cappella group and tells us lots of fun stories from that experience.   A while back, Bryan noticed that there were definite factions in the a cappella world and he made it his mission to get involved with all of them in an effort to bring people together. This discussion lead us into a great chat about diversity and how it’s being addressed in a cappella. Bryan and I agree that understanding diversity and the stories of different cultures are essential to informed performance and we share how to improve this element of your performance.   Bryan Guffey - https://www.facebook.com/musicjunkieg   Groups mention:   Forte femme - https://www.facebook.com/fortefemmemusic/   Birdland Avenue - https://www.facebook.com/birdlandavenue/

Everybody has a story. So far on the podcast, I’ve shared a bunch of other stories of how some of the biggest names in a cappella got to where they are. And I hope those stories have been inspiring for you. That’s why I started recordingacappella.com and this podcast. To help and inspire you. To let you know that you aren’t alone. Most of the people on this show started out in a cappella the exact same way you have. Had the same triumphs and frustrations. Made the same mistakes.   So did I and today I share my story.   I was in your position.   I understand the challenges you face and I’m here to help.       Join a few other focused and hungry aca peeps! Don’t forget to register for Catalyst Recording and Arranging Workshop 2017 http://recordingacappella.com/catalyst-2017   Get your FREE guide!!! 10 Ways to Improve Your A Cappella Recording http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Registration for Catalyst 2017 is OPEN! Thanks to everyone who has asked questions about the event so far! Tom and I are psyched about this opportunity. I think the thing that excites us most is that we have crafted this workshop so that each arranger gets the chance to have their arrangement recorded and all the recording students get to work on up to 5 different songs. There's no way for me to tell you just how valuable that is. You get to leave the workshop with 5 edited tracks that you worked on rather than just one fully mixed track. You'll get to have the stems too so that you can take those songs and try mixing them on your own as well after the event. Want to know more? Head to http://recordingacappella.com/catalyst-2017 Would you like to do a live coaching? In the next month or so, I'd like to have an episode of the podcast where I bring on one of you guys or gals and do a live coaching with you. If you've got the courage to come on the show and have your questions and my answers and advice recorded and then broadcast (podcast?) then you'll get a FREE coaching. That's a $77 value for FREE!!!   If you’ve ever wanted to know about Asian a cappella then today is a great show for you, we talk to Christine Liu of Vocal Asia about all things Asian a cappella. Christine’s love of a cappella started while in the states for high school and college where she started a group at northwestern.   She takes us on a brief trip through how the Asian a cappella scene started and where it’s at now. Christine is the head of Vocal Asia and she tells us a good bit about what the organization is doing all throughout that part of the world. Their festivals which change location each year not only feature a cappella but try to feature the music and culture of the area the festival is located in that year.   We talk about their education programs and how the awareness of a cappella is growing among the general population of the area. What sort of reception did the recent mainstream success of a cappella movies and TV shows receive in Asia? Christine lets us know.   Christine Liu - http://www.voconovo.tw/   Vocal Asia - http://vocalasia.org/index.php?lang=en      Asian A Cappella for you to check out: Vocal Asia compilations - A for A Cappella, House for Life, 2013 Asia A Cappella Compilation   Groups Christine mentioned : O-Kai Singers (Taiwan) Zenith (Korea) Exit (Korea) Takarabune (Japan) MICappella (Singapore) Hamojin (Japan) Voco Novo (Taiwan) Gili (Taiwan) Acapellago (Philippines) The Wanted (Taiwan) Gay Singers (Hong Kong) MayTree (Korea)      Catalyst Acappella Arranging and Recording Workshop 2017 - http://recordingacappella.com/catalyst-2017   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Tony Huerta is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s best known as the live mixing engineer for Take 6, was an original member of the group that went on to become M-Pact, and founded and performed with Urban Method on The Sing Off.   I hope you love this interview and I’m very excited to share it. Tony talks about live sound, customer service, business building, and more. He shares the surreal “fake it til you make it” story of how he became Take 6’s mix engineer and how you can give yourself the best chance to succeed in the world of live sound. Hint, it involves taking regular showers…   We discuss Tony’s keys to making a great recording in today’s world of being able to fix tuning and timing and he gives you a few keys to getting great live sound including regularly working with the same engineer and using little to no compression. During our conversation about his recent Live Sound Workshop called It Sounds Muddy, Tony tells us about the concept of sonic elements in music and how knowing them can drastically improve the sound of your live mix.   Whether you are a singer or engineer, if you are interested in a cappella live sound this interview is for you.   Tony Huerta and Sonic Audio - http://www.sonicaudiopro.com/   Tony’s Workshop - http://acappellamix.com/   Catalyst Acappella Arranging and Recording Workshop 2017 - http://recordingacappella.com/catalyst-2017   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

In this episode, I start with an inspiring story from a listener and then announce the details of the Catalyst Workshop 2017 (July 30 - August 3, 2017 in Nashville, TN) presented by Tom Anderson and myself.   I then give you a detailed overview of The Steps in the Recording Process. I go through them making sure you know what happens at each step, why it’s important, what you are able to do (and more importantly what you aren't able to do) during each step, who’s involved, and some of the gear/software used in each step. I also spend some time making recommendations on how to prepare during pre-production to get the best results later on in the process.   Catalyst Workshop 2017 - http://recordingacappella.com/catalyst-2017   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Thank you all for the incredible response to the show so far. I’ve been blown away by the support you’ve given me. I’ve really enjoyed talking to all of my guests and sharing their stories with you. I’m a big history geek and I really hope you’ve enjoyed learning things about the a cappella world and its history.   Before I introduce this week’s guest, I have a couple of announcements.   I’ve got a huge list of potential guests lined up and I’m also starting to develop some new ideas for segments on the show with different experts. This show is for you though. I’m always looking to talk to interesting people and I definitely don’t know everyone so if you know someone in a cappella that you think would make a fascinating guest on the show, please head over to recordingacappella.com and send me a message.   I’m super excited to announce Catalyst, a workshop happening this summer. Arranger Tom Anderson and I will be leading a multi-day workshop on arranging and recording that is designed to propel you faster to greater things in acappella. Whether you are interested in an acappella career or just want to improve your groups’ arrangements and recordings, you’ll want to check this workshop out. The event will be held at my studio in Nashville, TN during the week of July 31st. I’ll have more info for you next week including exact dates and where to go for more detailed information so please stay tuned for that info.   I am really thrilled to introduce you to this weeks’ guest Ed Boyer. I have so much respect for Ed and all of the amazing things he’s accomplished in his a cappella career. And if you met him on the street, you’d never know he had platinum records with arguably the most popular acappella group in the world Pentatonix, had mixed The Sing Off, and worked on all the Pitch Perfect films. I first met Ed over 10 years ago when Deke Sharon told me I should email Ed about what equipment to buy to record a cappella groups. I’m really excited for you to hear this episode because Ed shares why he loves mixing, what he does every week to remind himself of his goal when mixing a song. He tells us about his journey from being a producer who was constantly on the road to being a mixing engineer that can work from home. He also talks about how he loves getting to work on songs that millions of people will hear and as cool as it is to work on big name records, he still loves the simple direct to the artist relationship of working with a school group. And for those of us that have been working in the acappella world for a while, Ed has a great reminder for himself that we can all take to heart. He reminds himself regularly that even though we sometimes complain about things we have to deal with in this job, it’s still pretty damn cool that we get to work on acappella for a living.     Ed Boyer’s website  - http://edboyeracappella.com/   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Dio, as he is known by so many, loves to bring people together and he’s been doing so since before he founded SoJam in 2003. He’s helped many current a cappella engineers get started in the industry. He’s been a performer, producer, recording, editing, and mixing engineer and now is one of the go-to mastering engineers for acappella.  I’m really excited for you to hear this episode because Dio explains the mastering process and why it’s important. He also shares his thoughts on using a mastering website versus a human mastering engineer.    Vocal Mastering and Dave Sperandio - http://www.vocalmastering.com/   SoJam - http://sojam.net/   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

In this episode, I focus on 3 important things that you need to understand before you start recording that you won’t learn easily from tutorials or my videos. Signal Flow, The Steps in the Recording Process, and that every piece of gear or software has a Learning Curve.   We talk about where to go to learn more about these things, why they are important to know, and how understanding them can improve your recording experiences.   Audio Signal Flow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_signal_flow   The Recording Process - http://recordingacappella.com/blog/2016/7/18/what-do-the-steps-in-the-recording-process-sound-like 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Tom Anderson is a prolific professional vocal arranger who used to be an attorney. His career really took off when some guy from Oregon asked him to arrange a song for his college group. That guy was Peter Hollens and the group was On the Rocks. Tom stopped by my studio a few weeks back on his way to Memphis for NACC and we talked about how 4 Boyz from Philly started his acappella geekdom and a took a deep dive into vocal arranging where he talks about how instrumental orchestration has influenced his arranging style.   Tom Anderson - https://www.random-notes.com/ 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Bill Hare has had an incredible influence on my acappella engineering career. I literally wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t annoyed the crap out of him with tons of questions over the years. Bill has over 30 years of experience as an engineer and producer and much of what we call the contemporary acappella recording sound was pioneered by him in the 1990s and 2000s. Yep… and he has a Grammy!  Bill is so busy when he’s home working that I had to catch him in NYC 3 hours before he was about to get on a plane back home. We cover his early history with acappella, how his sound began, how being neighbors with Digidesign affected acappella recording, and the most important thing to do when self-tracking.   Bill Hare - http://billhare.tv 10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

In this episode, I share with you the main reason I started recordingacappella.com and this podcast. To help you get GREAT SOUND. Why is great sound important? It’s professional, important for success, and your recording will last forever so why sound bad?   You live in amazing times! Amazing quality recording equipment is inexpensive and plentiful. It is easier than ever for musicians to record themselves and end up with recordings that sound amazing at very low cost.   Why is this important to know? While it is easier than ever to make a great sounding recording, there are many elements of making a passionate and inspiring recording that are just as important as ever and are unaffected by technology. We will cover gear and tech on this podcast but will spend much more time focusing on music, sound, and performance when sharing techniques that will improve your recordings.   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Corey Slutsky and I started in acappella at the exact same time. Before starting the amazing Voices Only compilation albums back in 2005, Corey was a member of ICCA champion and finalists groups the USC Socal Vocals and Univ of Michigan G-Men. He is Executive Producer of Voices Only and Voices Only Forte and producer for Voices Only Productions. But before becoming a full-time a cappella producer, Corey had a career in TV marketing and sports journalism. He shares what it’s like to switch careers, how to do it, and we also spend a lot of time talking about what it takes to get a song on Voices Only. I can’t wait for you to hear this interview because Corey is brutally honest about some of the not so sexy sides of making a career in a cappella work.   All things Voices Only - http://www.voicesonlyacappella.com/   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

J.D. Frizzell is one of the most inspiring educators I know. I first met him 6 years ago at SoJam and in the time since he has become a leader in the acappella community. He is president of the Acappella Education Association and his high school acappella group OneVoice appeared on America’s Got Talent and is a Sony recording artist. Would you believe that he didn’t get seriously involved in acappella until 7 years ago? In our conversation he shares how his groups got so far so fast, specific rehearsal methods they use including his 5-step rehearsal method, tells you about some of the lesser known benefits of joining the AEA and why you’ll have FOMO once you hear about the National Acappella Convention happening this weekend. We also spend a good amount of time talking about how working with pros like Dave Sperandio and Robert Dietz have really upped their recording game.   J.D. Frizzell - jdfrizzell.com   Acappella Education Association - http://acappellaeducators.com/   5-Step Rehearsal Method - http://jdfrizzell.com/2016/02/rehearsing-contemporary-a-cappella-groups/   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Who else would I have had on my first show other than Deke Sharon? You name it in acappella and he’s done it, or probably created it, or made it better than it was. When you hear Deke’s name, you often hear “the father of contemporary acappella” following it. Arranger, Producer, Coach, Writer… Deke’s acappella pedigree is well known. the Bubs, CASA, The House Jacks, Straight No Chaser, Committed, Nota, Street Corner Symphony, The Sing Off, Pitch Perfect 1, 2, and 3, Pitch Slapped, In Transit, and the upcoming Pitch Battle on the BBC. Deke is rarely at home and I caught him there and we talked about In Transit, some of its pioneering elements, and what it was like to record a Broadway soundtrack. We cover Pitch Perfect 3, get a sneak peak at Pitch Battle, and also talk at length about acappella finally getting a seat at the grown ups table in the music industry.   Deke Sharon - http://www.dekesharon.com/   10 Ways to Improve your Acappella Recording - http://recordingacappella.com/podcast

Welcome to the Recording Acappella Podcast. I’m your host Danny Ozment. I’ve been involved in a cappella in some form or another for over 20 years now. I joined my first group the Madison Project from James Madison University in 1996 and founded Exit 245 in 1998. After a 10 year career in classical music, I returned to a cappella to start Emerald City Productions and have been working as a full-time a cappella recording engineer, editor, and mixing engineer for nearly 10 years now. Last year I started recordingacappella.com, an education site for acappella groups and aca geeks to learn how to record themselves better and for recording enthusiasts to learn some of the basics of acappella editing and mixing.    You might be wondering why I didn’t choose acappella for my intro music. Well, mostly because there wasn’t any good acappella on audiojungle to buy. But also because I spend most of my days working on acappella and I couldn’t face hearing more acappella every time I put my show together. But seriously, I don’t plan to play any a cappella on this show. I’m going to bring you some of the greatest people in the a cappella business. All of them know more than I do about acappella and recording and I like it that way because it will help you expand your knowledge and make better recordings.    So thanks for checking out the show and I hope you enjoy the upcoming episodes.    Recording  Acappella - http://recordingacappella.com   Emerald City Productions - http://emeraldcitypro.com